Capitals Notebook: Wilson, Hathaway Being Assessed, Oshie On Protocol, Snively Could Debut

The Washington Capitals are still juggling COVID-19 and assessing their situation as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday amid several NHL postponements. Still, they’re staying positive and confident in their lines regardless of who is in or out.

T.J. Oshie entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol on Sunday, joining Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom. That makes three top-6 forwards unavailable for Washington, who will play in D.C. before embarking on the road for two games before Christmas.

In turn, Washington recalled Joe Snively from Hershey. The Herndon, Virginia native and Little Caps alum who could make his NHL debut. But also, they could see a couple of key pieces draw back in as well.

READ MORE ON WHN: Virginia Native Joe Snively Earns Capitals Call Up

Tom Wilson and Garnet Hathaway were both on the ice for morning skate. They didn’t take part in line rushes, and Wilson skated for a long time after practice. However, Peter Laviolette didn’t rule either of them out for a possible return. He also didn’t guarantee Snively would play in his first NHL game.  Hathaway is still on protocol per the roster, but if he is ready to go, he can be activated before the game.

“[Snively’s] worked hard. He put himself in a position to have his name called,” Laviolette said of the 25-year-old coming up from Hershey. “I gotta see where everything’s at inside here. So he’s up here he’s earned the right to get the call-up. Now we’ve got to address [everything] in the room.”

Laviolette did say, though, that Nic Dowd and Trevor van Riemsdyk will definitely suit up against L.A. Both didn’t get to travel to Winnipeg per COVID-19 protocol in Canada, but they came off the protocol and did play on Wednesday against Chicago.

Here were the lines at morning skate:

Alex Ovechkin-Lars Eller-Daniel Sprong

Joe Snively-Aliaksei Protas-Conor Sheary

Carl Hagelin-Mike Sgarbossa-Brett Leason

Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Connor McMichael

Martin Fehervary-John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen

Trevor van Riemsdyk-Justin Schultz

Vitek Vanecek will get the start.